A Robot No Longer
by EDreams
Summary: When Proto Man, Mega Man, and Bass find a mysterious yellow orb, their entire lives change forever, and they begin to discover things about them that they never knew...
1. The Beginning

**A Robot No Longer**

**Chapter 1**

_I'm not really sure how it happened. It kind of…just did. One day, I was taking a much-deserved break from saving the world, and the next day, I woke up…different. Just…different._

-----------------

Glowing with a green aura, Mega Man held his Mega Buster, his name for the arm cannon that could replace his hand at will, at the giant mechanical skull-shaped robot towering over him. He jumped up into the air and fired a huge energy shot at the skull-shaped robots eyes…

The blast knocked Wily, the evil scientist manning the machine, from the controls and back up against the control room. The controls began to malfunction and the screens turned red, with the words "WARNING! WARNING! OVERLOAD!" flashing on them in big letters. Frantically, Wily looked around at the controls for the emergency escape button…

He found it and the entire control room separated from the skull robot as it exploded in a plume of smoke and flame. He was now controlling a giant flying saucer. Quickly, he manned the controls again, turned towards a wall, and fired a blast at it. The wall exploded and the saucer flew through the hole where the wall had just been.

"Bwahahahaha!" Wily cackled into the microphone on the control panel. His voice rang through the hallway, magnified by the speakers in his Skull Fortress. "Mega Man, you should have learned by now! You can catch me as many times as you want, but I'll never give up! NEVER!"

"Stop, Wily! I won't let you escape!" Mega Man yelled back. On instinct, he began to change color. Green, silver, yellow, orange, blue, pink, black, gold, and finally, red. When he reached red, he stopped changing colors and a thin beam of light came from the sky, through the ceiling, and onto the floor, where a small creature began to appear.

In a small flash, a red robotic dog, Rush, was standing before Mega Man. It barked three times and then began to change shape. It's legs turned like the wheels of an airplane until its front legs could no longer be seen and it's back legs were behind it. The paws then changed shape as well, until they took the form of two small rocket engines. The dog's body became flat, and soon, the only way you could tell it was the same dog was the head, which hadn't changed. The dog barked again, and Mega Man leaped onto it's back.

"Let's go, Rush! We must catch Wily!" Mega Man yelled, and the engines ignited. Rush flew off after Wily at breakneck speed.

Soon, Mega Man could see Wily's flying saucer in the distance. He still wasn't out of the fortress yet, which was good, since Mega Man was catching up to him. Wily must have noticed this, for his saucer started to speed up. In retaliation, Rush began to speed up as well.

Mega Man fired three continuous shots from his Mega Buster at the saucer, but Wily dodged all three with relative ease. Mega Man didn't give up, and kept on firing over and over. Eventually, just before they reached the edge of the fortress, a bunch of the shots hit Wily's saucer, which began to smoke. Fire burst out from the back end and the ship plummeted towards the ground…

After it had already blasted its way out of the Skull Fortress. Mega Man cried out as Wily's ship plummeted towards the rocky cliffs below…Mega Man couldn't let him die…not only was going to jail the right punishment, but it was one of the three laws of robotics…no robot could ever harm a human being.

Quickly, he and Rush flew down the cliff after Wily. Mega Man started to change colors again. This time, he stopped on silver and pointed his Mega Buster at Wily's saucer. He fired, and a silver rope of light shot out and wrapped around the saucer. Mega Man pulled his Mega Buster like a fishing rod, and the beam pulled Wily toward him. In seconds, Mega Man had the entire ship attached to the end of his buster.

Wily would have been grateful, but he knew what this meant. He was going to jail all over again…but he didn't mind…he got used to it after the twentieth time or so.

Quickly, but carefully, Mega Man deposited the now-dead saucer on the base of the cliff and jumped off Rush. In a thin beam of red light, Rush teleported away. Mega Man turned blue again, and his Mega Buster contracted into his arm. Instantaneously, his hand appeared in it's place.

Carefully, Mega Man walked over to the edge of the saucer and knocked. The metal door began to open, sliding upwards slowly. Reluctantly, Wily walked out of his saucer as a ramp slid out from the door.

"I'll go quietly. This time." Wily muttered, walking down the ramp towards Mega Man and gritting his teeth. Smiling in victory and relief, Mega Man grabbed Wily's arm and closed his eyes. He turned into a thin blue beam of light and flew straight into the air.

--------------

MEGAMAN CAPTURES WILY YET AGAIN

_In another spectacular victory, Rock Light, AKA Mega Man, defeated the infamous Wily for what is now about the twenty-third time. Wily, an infamous criminal who was a former colleague to Dr. Light, has created hundreds of robot masters in his numerous attempts to take over the world and defeat Mega Man and the rest of the Light family, who are his only obstacle. This time, the infamous Wily sent out Rose Man, Clock Man, Color Man, Paper Man, Sumo Man, Quake Man, Doom Man, and Half-Life Man in another fruitless attempt to stop the famous Blue Bomber and take over the planet. When asked about these new creations, Mega Man laughed and stated that Wily is running out of ideas. Dr. Light, the creator of Mega Man, refused to comment._

_Wily is now facing a lifetime in jail, although it's unlikely that he'll be in there that long at all. When asked why he refuses to simply let Wily get the chair, Mega Man says that all criminals deserve every chance they get to reform._

_More news as it comes._

--------------

His pipe in his mouth, Dr. Light scanned the news article on about Mega Man's most recent victory. The article had…neglected…to mention that Mega Man had also said that he could never and would never lay any harm to another human being. Oh well, that was the media for you.

Light closed the article and went back to his research. Only recently had he found a strange glowing yellow object. It was similar to the yellow and black energy orbs that would automatically repair any damage to Mega Man's system when he touched them.

He wanted to test this on a robot, but he didn't want to damage or destroy Mega Man or any of his other creations on accident. He had no idea what this would do, and he didn't want to take any major risks. He decided he'd ask Mega Man tomorrow, as he was currently resting.

--------------

In a thin beam of white light, Wily teleported into the laboratory of his hidden emergency base.

"GRAAAAAAAH!!!" Wily roared, jumping up and down in fury. "That damn blue bomber foiled my plans again!"

"Face it Wily, everything you've made but me sucked. You'll never make anything better than me, and you might as well quit and take up knitting." boasted a robot in black armor in the background. The robot had a helmet with two orange fin shapes sticking out of the side. Wily jumped and fell over at the sound of the robot's voice.

"Bass! You pompous ignoramus! You almost killed me!" Wily roared. Bass, the robot, scoffed.

"You should be more careful then, old man."

"And you shouldn't sneak up on me like that!"

Bass wasn't paying attention. He was looking at something on the floor. A glowing yellow object on the ground.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked.

"Oh, that. I stole one from Mega Man when he captured me. He was carrying a bunch of them."

"What does it do?"

Wily's eyes seemed to sparkle.

"It makes you hundreds of times stronger. Mega Man will probably think they are dangerous and won't use them, and then you'll be more powerful than him!" he boasted.

"I _am _more powerful than him, you forgetful old crackpot. But if this makes me stronger…I want it. Now. Install it or whatever." Bass ordered.

Wily grinned as he picked the glowing orb off of the ground. Whatever this thing did to Bass, he'd win. If it worked, it might make Bass so powerful that he could destroy Mega Man. And if it destroyed Bass, he'd be rid of that failure and his annoying boasting once and for all. Eagerly, Wily deactivated Bass and started to work…

---------------

Proto Man perched on the top of a tree, examining his find. He had found a small yellow orb while he was exploring. He had no idea what it did, but he was more than willing to find out.

After all, if he didn't like the results, he could live with it. He had dealt with the problems in his system for this long, after all. Proto Man nonchalantly opened a panel in his arm and placed the yellow orb inside of it. He then deactivated himself and fell into a robotic form of sleep.

---------------

Mega Man had accidentally installed one of the yellow orbs he had found without meaning to. He couldn't figure out how to get rid of it, but it hadn't changed anything, so it didn't really matter.

Tomorrow was another day, after all. Then he could ask Dr. Light about it.


	2. A New Day

**Chapter 2: A New Day**

When Proto Man awoke the next morning, he felt extremely odd. First off, his armor felt heavy. Really heavy, as if it had all been filled with blocks of lead overnight. He also noticed his movements weren't as robotic either…even with the weight of the armor, he could move his arm around in more ways than before.

To check to see if he was still working right, he lifted his arm and thought of his buster. Nothing happened. Instead, he was just standing there with his fist out. He noticed passerby staring at him.

"What are you staring at?" he snapped. He wanted to get out of the area, but when he tried to teleport, he found he couldn't do that either. Frustrated, he decided to walk away himself. For a few moments, he though of going to Dr. Light's lab for his assistance, but he decided he didn't need or want his help.

His thoughts were interrupted by a bizarre rumbling sound coming from his middle. He decided that that was most definitely not a good sign, and he decided he had no choice. He began the long walk towards Dr. Light's house.

--------------

When Mega Man woke up, he wasn't in his stasis tank. Instead, he was in Dr. Light's lab…Dr. Light was sitting in front of a table with a glowing yellow orb and a bunch of different-colored chemicals in tubes. He also had what looked like a robotic replica of a frog. Mega Man watched Dr. Light with curiosity as he did something to the robotic frog.

There was a bright flash, and a real frog slipped from Dr. Light's grip and hopped away. Dr. Light looked at it in surprise.

Almost immediately, he noticed Mega Man sitting upright. He looked surprised for a second, but he smiled.

"Mega Man, I have some news. Whether this is good news or not is up to you to decide."

-------------

The first thing Bass noticed when he awoke was what the first thing he had thought of was NOT. Usually, upon "waking", he'd be immediately thinking that he was far superior to Mega Man and would eventually destroy him once-and-for-all.

This time, when he woke up, his thoughts were about food…this was even more odd, since robots don't eat. They get their energy by recharging.

What was even odder was the fact his helmet continued to…fall off. Over and over. He eventually got so frustrated with the helmet that he tried to form his buster and destroy it. Nothing happened. He screamed in rage and tried to kick it away, but still nothing happened. And now, his foot hurt.

Slowly, his brain was triggering something. He had just felt emotions. Real emotions. He was hungry and thinking of food. His damn helmet was falling off. Slowly but surely, as he became less and less sleepy (which was stranger, as he had recently recharged…), he began to feel more emotions. Minor ones, in the back of his mind.

Eventually, he shrugged all this confusion off and went to get breakfast. He stopped when he realized what he was doing. Robots didn't need to eat. He started to turn back towards his room, but stopped when he saw Wily appear out of nowhere. Wily looked strangely calm, and yet anxious, as if he had just discovered the secret to destroying the Light family forever.

"Bass, I have just discovered something very interesting. And, since I'm feeling nice today, I'll explain it to you slowly so your tiny brain can comprehend it. Now, come into my lab and sit down."

Bass laughed dryly and followed Wily into his lab.

-----------------------

"I don't know how it happened." Wily and Light explained at the exact same time, in their corresponding labs, to two entirely different people.

"But suddenly, overnight, something I still haven't been able to figure out happened. There is no logical or scientific explanation…"

"Get to the point, you crazy old man." Bass snapped impatiently.

"Go on…" Mega Man said to Dr. Light at the same time, anxious. In their corresponding labs, both scientists released a deep sigh at the exact same time.

"…But you are no longer a robot. You are a living, breathing human being."

------------------------

Dr. Light waited a few minutes. Mega Man looked stunned beyond all possible reason. He laughed weakly.

"Good one…is it April already?" Mega Man joked, hoping that this was all some kind of crazy joke.

"It's the beginning of June, Mega Man." Dr. Light responded seriously.

"Oh…you can't be…this can't be…right…serious…it's impossible…this is some kind of dream, isn't it? You're just in my head! All of it is!" Mega Man assured himself, his voice going from quaking to angry extremely quickly, his mind filled with too many thoughts. He was too confused, and he clutched the side of his head and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. As he did, he tripped. A chunk of his armor snapped, cutting through his skin. _His skin._ Blood leaked from the small wound, but to Mega Man, it was as significant as a gash.

It was the horrible, horrible proof. His armor was now just that. He had skin. He could bleed. He was _human._

Confused and upset from the unexpected pain and this new realization, Mega Man ran to his room, and another new thing flowed down his cheeks.

_Tears._ For the first time in his life, he was crying.

Watching Mega Man run off, Roll walked into the hallway. Her first possible reaction was automatic. Clean up the mess.

But another reaction overrode that thought, and she walked over to her brother's room.

----------------------------

Bass's first reaction was quite different. He immediately jumped to his feet and grabbed Wily by his collar. With strength that rivaled the kind he had when he was a robot, he lifted the old scientist over a foot off the ground.

"LIAR!" he hollered. "I REFUSE TO PLAY THESE STUPID GAMES WITH YOU!"

"STOP!" Wily yelled back, squirming in a fruitless attempt to escape from Bass's powerful grip. "We could take advantage of it! All you need to do is head to the Light residence…"

At the word "Light", Bass tightened his grip. Wily had to speak louder, and struggle to get a word out between breaths.

"Disguise…yourself…as an average person…they shouldn't…recognize you…find out…what Light…is doing…steal…his plans…don't draw attention to yourself…and we may be able to do this every chance…we get…until we…gain…the old man's….trust…"

Bass dropped Wily, who rubbed his neck and took deep breaths. His voice hoarse, Wily began to speak again.

"I have…some professional clothing…in my room…from when I was younger. Disguise yourself…"

Bass, interested, listened intently as Wily laid out his plan.

-----------------------------

Proto Man walked through the crowded city, his middle rumbling more and more with every step he took. Some passerby stared at him…others whispered and nodded…small children pointed and laughed.

Proto Man ignored this. With his teleportation technology malfunctioning, he was going to have to live with it until he got to Dr. Light.

Until he saw something. There seemed to be a small crowd gathering around something…instinct seemed to be telling him to investigate. When he reached the crowd, he noticed they were all looking up at something, so he looked up as well.

A strange man, barely viewable from so high up, was dangling what looked like a toddler off the roof of a thirty-story building. Proto Man gasped. This he could not ignore.

"Aren't any of you going to help at all?" he asked the crowd angrily.

"What the hell are you talking about, you stupid kid? I'm not getting myself killed." retorted a man nearby. Some of the other people in the crowd nodded in agreement.

"And the phone lines are dead, and we ain't gonna walk all the way to no damn police station. That ain't MY baby danglin' up there, I ain't gonna save it. That kid's parents should be the ones saving it, not some complete strangers. That be called responsibility." said another in an incredibly broken form of English.

"No, responsibility is saving someone. Let me show you." Proto Man retorted confidently, as he ran towards the fire escape on the side of the building and began to climb it. The man on the roof didn't notice him, and the higher Proto Man climbed, the clearer the voice became. The voice was unleashing a stream of swears, saying something about how his apartment had bad service and he was going to drop the kid if he didn't get his money back in the next few minutes…

Total nutcase. Wondering why the security hadn't already captured this psycho, Proto Man climbed onto the top of the building and began to walk towards the man.

----------------

Mega Man sat in his room, on his bed, and turned on a television. Since he could no longer control it with himself, he had to flip the channels manually. He stopped at a somewhat interesting news story…the video was showing a zoomed-in picture of a small kid on the roof of a building, hugging a small child. The headline on the screen rang "BOY SAVES TODDLER FROM UNKNOWN KIDNAPPER". A woman walked in front of the camera and began to speak.

"We now interrupt _All My Circuits_ for this breaking Fox news story. A strange kid in a red costume has apparently saved a one-year old girl from a strange kidnapper, who was demanding his money back from the hotel in exchange for the girl's life. The kidnapped has seemingly escaped, and the boy is currently being taken to the police station for questioning. If you know anything about this man, then please…"

A knock on the door distracted Mega Man, and he asked who it was without even looking.

"It's me, Roll." said a female voice on the other side of the door. "May I?"

"Sure…why not…"

With a creak, the door opened and Roll entered. Roll was about the same age as him, for she was built at almost the exact same time. She almost always wore a green bow in her long yellow hair, and could usually be seen in a red dress.

She was still a robot. She would live until she could no longer be repaired. She would never have to worry about love, or death, happiness or sadness…at least not really. It'd all be programmed. Part of her. It wouldn't be like a human, and she could never make her own choices.

He felt a slight twang of both pity and jealously. Everything had already sank in. He knew everything that would happen to a human during their lives, but he never would have guessed, never would have dreamed he'd have the same hopes. The same fears. The same _emotions._

"Are you feeling alright, Rock?" she asked sweetly. Mega Man smiled at the name. That was his real name, after all. Before he had volunteered to be changed from a lab assistant robot to a full-scale robotic warrior. Either way, he had always been a robot, but that name was familiar to him. A human name.

It was his name.


	3. With Any Other Name

**Chapter 3: With Any Other Name**

Proto Man sat in an easy chair in the police station, waiting for the interviewer to return. He was amazed at how much publicity he was getting…saving the girl had required no use of weaponry or force…all he did was climb to the top, which startled the kidnapper so much that he ran, kid and all, off the side of the building. The man had dropped the girl while running, so she hadn't gone off the edge with him, and had been safe only because Proto Man had been quick enough to catch her.

It had been considerably easy, really, but everyone was proclaiming him a "town hero". He could hear the reporters outside, but the police weren't letting them in. This was nice, considering how much he didn't like the publicity.

Some of the police had offered him something to eat, but he had not accepted it, saying he didn't need anything. And he honestly didn't.

Robots don't eat.

----------------

Roll was talking to Mega Man, who had decided he wanted to be named Rock from now on, when she was interrupted by a knock at the front door. Instantaneously, Roll leaped to her feet, yelling "I'll get it!"

Rock sighed and turned back towards the television, which was now showing a preview of the next episode of _All My Circuits._ He began to flip through the channels, not paying attention to the dialogue that flipped by as he did so. He eventually began to change the channels faster and faster.

"BZZT. I ARE SAD. I CRY AT LOSS OF CHILD MODEL."

"Fox news! On your side."

"What do you mean, '_Metroid Prime _should have been in this award show?'"

"Now available for a hundred and seven easy payments of $199.99, the _Caption Contest Caption Generator_! Yay!!!_"_

"We would like to welcome our newest junior reporter, For-"

"Blob and George, the daily television almost-reality show! After Ninja N-"

"This game's winner is.."

"Ooh, that had to hurt!"

"The Kar-"

"Now on HBO...The Return of the Fellowship of the King's Two Towers..."

"For just 9.99..."

"For just 9.99..."

"A 999 dollar value ABSOLUTELY FREE! notethatthereisashippingandhandlingfeeof2000dollars. CALL NOW!"

Mega Man turned off the television. There wasn't anything good on.

------------------

Proto Man noticed something hanging on the wall. A small, round circular mirror enveloped in a round stone frame. The frame had small half-naked angels engraved around its surface. When he saw it, he had the strangest urge to walk over and look into it. He had never had a need to before...but what the Hell? Why not?

Proto Man walked over to the mirror and looked at it. Another strange urge, like a voice in the back of his head, seemed to be telling him to take off his helmet.

At first, he didn't want to, but the urge took over and he pulled on the side of his helmet and lifted it off of his head.

When he had taken it off, he looked into the mirror again.

And he saw someone staring back that couldn't possibly be him.

But he knew it was. He could see black hair, unkempt, but not dirty. He could see ears. Lips. Skin. And big, round blue eyes that were filled with emotion. And all of it was real. Not made. Not artificial. _Real._

He stared at his reflection, his helmet tucked under his arm. This couldn't be real. Dropping his helmet, he felt the side of his face with his hand.

It was warm.

As he continued to stare in wonder at his bizarre reflection, he began to think out loud.

"This can't be real. Not completely. This has to be a dream...but if it isn't...what am I? What was I? Was the rest of my life a dream? Am I really...a person? What does this all mean? I can feel it, I can see it, I can think...this is me...but is it really? I'm not sure...about any of it..."

He didn't notice the door opening, or a voice announcing that there was someone to see him. He didn't see a small girl and a tall, thin woman with an infant walking into the room. He only noticed them when they spoke.

"Excuse me, sir, but what's your name?" the toddler asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Blues..." he said without thinking, sitting down on a nearby chair.

-----------------------

"Dr. Light, there's somebody here to see you!" Roll yelled, her voice ringing through the hallways.

"I'm coming, I'm coming..." Dr. Light yelled back, walking out of his lab. As he closed the door, there was the sound of glass shattering, followed by a muffled explosion. Dr. Light cringed.

"I'm _really_ going to have to be more careful..."

When he got to the door, he answered it to see a small figure with straight purple hair and purple eyes. The person was about the same size as Mega Man, and was probably the same age. The person was wearing the clothing you might wear if you were going on a business trip, and was holding a clipboard.

"Hello, I am Forest Wily, and I'm a junior reporter for the local newspaper, and I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes for an interview, as I am trying to write a report about your family's most recent victory, and I presume this is the Light residence, is it not?" the boy said, speaking extremely fast and barely stopping.

"That's correct...I presume your name is just a coincidence?"

"Yes, no relation to your psychotic former partner."

"Then come on in."

-----------------------

"Blues, I don't know how to thank you." the woman said, her voice filled with a ragged happiness.

"It was nothing.." Blues whispered. "Nothing at all..." He never had liked talking to people, but they seemed nice enough. The woman seemed tired and stressed, for reasons Blues would likely not understand even if he asked her.

"Is there any way I could repay you? I could take you to your parents...if you wanted..."

"That's fine..." Blues didn't want to say that he didn't have parents.

"Do you have parents?" Too late, apparently. The woman had said it anyways, and he wasn't going to lie.

"Nope."

"Oh...that's too bad...you could stay over at our house for the night, if you want..."

Blues thought about it. It didn't seem like a bad idea.

"OK."

-----------------

After a few minutes of asking questions, Forest asked for another favor.

"Do you think you could give me a look around?"

Dr. Light nodded, but he explained that the room at the end of the hallway would not be part of the...tour. Beginning with the lab, as Forest requested they should go there first, Dr. Light started to show him around. They talked and explored for a few minutes, until someone began yelling.

"Dr. Light! Come quick! Something is wrong with Roll!"

Quickly, Light ran as fast as his legs could carry him toward the source of the voice, leaving Forest in there alone. Forest did nothing for a few minutes, until he was sure Light was out of hearing range.

"GOD! I can't believe I have to do this!" he muttered, opening the suitcase and grabbing things out of the cabinets as quietly and quickly as possible. He noticed some of the yellow orbs, and he put them inside as well. He also grabbed some parts, an engine, and a clipboard used to keep track of inventory. He took off the paper that had currently been on the clipboard and replaced it with another thing in the suitcase.

"Me and my jobs." He put the clipboard back in the place where it was, the new paper on it. He then shut his suitcase and looked at a watch on his arm. The watch had a small microphone and an earpiece, the cord of which was tucked up his sleeve. He pressed a button on the watch and began to whisper into the microphone.

"OK, OK, I've got everything I was supposed to get...should I head back now?"

He paused.

"Alright, great. I'm on my way."

----------------------

At Wily's base, Wily was getting impatient.

"Hurry up already, Bass, I'm getting impatient!" he yelled.

"Your disguise technology is screwing up!" Bass yelled back in the distance. "And my name IS FORTE! F! O! R! T! E!"

"Bah. A cactus by any other name is just as painful." Wily muttered, as his computer noted he had mail. This was odd...nobody knew his e-mail but his partners. But he grabbed the mouse and clicked on "READ MAIL", and then scanned through the message when it appeared. His eyes widened.

"Never mind, Bass-" he started to yell.

"FORTE!" Forte screamed back angrily.

"WHATEVER! I've got a different mission for you..."


	4. On Your Back

**Chapter 4 : On Your Back**

Blues and the family were going to be escorted to the house via a police car. He resisted the urge to ask the family how they gotten here, but the woman seemed to read his mind.

"We don't have a car. We were escorted here. We don't have a house either. We live in an apartment, which is paid for by a local charity." she said sadly.

Blues had a hard time imagining a young mother, a child not even in preschool, and an infant only a year old walking everywhere they had to go to. He also couldn't seem to imagine an apartment room with those very three people living in it, and possibly a fourth one.

Seemingly reading his thoughts, the toddler, who had been walking in front of him, slowed down and clasped Blue's hand.

"Did you ever have a daddy?" she asked.

"Sort of..." Blues responded, feeling slightly uncomfortable again.

"I don't." she admitted. She said it so calmly, it was almost as if she didn't realize what those words meant.

Blues was now having an even more difficult time imagining how they lived.

------------------------

Forest pressed the button on his watch again, and then pressed another button on the same watch. Suddenly, he heard Dr. Light and Mega Man saying something at the same time.

"She's back!" they shouted in surprise. This was Forest's cue, and he began to write random things on his clipboard while looking around at the trinkets in the lab. Dr. Light returned and entered the room, and Forte immediately looked at him and began to speak.

"Breaking news, and I need to be there in ten minutes." he announced. "Sorry if I wasted your time."

"It's alright." Light replied. "Come back anytime."

Forest nodded and left the room.

------------------------

It was already late in the afternoon, and it was starting to rain. The police officer in the front of the car turned on his windshield wipers as the rain came down harder and harder, turning into a steady downpour that beat against the car and drowned out all other sounds.

"Would you like to listen to some music?" the officer asked, trying to keep his voice audible above the noise of the surrounding downpour.

"Blues! Blues!" the toddler squealed. It had actually been to get Blue's attention, but the officer took that as a yes. He turned the station to the local blues station, and turned the volume up.

"My name is Tron! I forgot to tell you." the toddler said. Blues smiled slightly. He would have been slightly more cheerful, but everything he had seen and learned today alone was keeping him from being truly happy. He stared out the window as the drive continued, until Tron laid her head on Blue's lap and fell asleep.

---------------

"Dr. Light, what happened to Roll?" Rock asked after Forest left. Dr. Light shrugged.

"I don't have any idea. She just locked up out of nowhere, and fixed herself out of nowhere as well." he replied. Dr. Light allowed himself a smile.

"And if you would, call me dad."

Rock smiled back. _Dad._ The word was echoing in his ears, and all his doubts were quickly washing away.

--------------------

They arrived at the apartment at about 7 o'clock. It was the same apartment that Blues had rescued Tron from earlier that day, and it made him sad to think that Tron, her mother, and the baby had walked the same distance that the police officer had just drove…just so they could thank him and repay the favor.

The police officer pulled a lever on the door, and there was a clicking sound. Tron's mother grabbed a handle on the side of the door next to her, pushed the door open, and ducked low to walk out of the car, all while holding the baby close. Tron realized they had stopped moving and woke up. She jumped out of the police car, and Blues followed her.

Blues looked at the apartment from the outside. It was tall. It was thin. It was made of brick, and had little to no paint, most of it having chipped off. Blues thought that the whole building would probably fall apart if it wasn't in-between the skyscrapers next to it. And compared to them, the building looked even more like an insignificant dump.

It was still raining, and Blues was knocked out of his thought process by Tron calling from him from under the canopy above the door. Quickly, Blues ran towards her and followed her into the building

He soon discovered how worse it looked on the inside.

The building had no paint. None. The front desk was near the stairs, and it was nothing more than a used old desk. There were no elevators, and the only television was sitting on the desk. It took Blues a minute to realize the television was part of a tiny radio that was barely three inches high. The television was running, and the news was on in black and white. The reception for it was horrible, and the news would constantly be replaced by waves of static.

He stared at it for a few seconds, walked past the sleeping secretary that was behind the desk, and followed Tron and her family up the stairs.

------------------------

Rock was laying down in his room, watching reruns of a show that he had seen on television while flipping through channels. On the screen, a character that looked a lot like him threw a rubber duck at another character that looked a lot like him and yelled "Uno! King me!"

There was a knock on the door, and it was followed by Roll's voice.

"Rock! Dinner's ready!"

----------------------

As Blues climbed the stairs, he realized more and more how depressing this place looked. Almost all the lights on the stairs had blown out, and they all had to crawl around in the darkness. The stairs were wooden, of all things, and Blues offered to carry Tron, who refused. He was surprised that she didn't have serious injuries in her foot from these stairs. To make things even more unnerving, the wooden stairs creaked. They all seemed to be used to this, though, and Tron climbed the wooden stairs without any trouble at all.

It was a long climb, too. Climbing the stairs seemed to take hours, and Blues couldn't resist the urge to ask what floor they lived on.

"The top one." the mother responded quickly as they passed a sign that read "Floor 10" in faded letters.

----------------------

Half-way through eating, Dr. Light decided to announce something.

"Mega Man, do you know what a school is?"

Rock hadn't been paying much attention, and as he stuffed his face full of his first ever actual meal, he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"Wija's foatrens?" he said, his voice muffled. He swallowed.

"Wily's fortress?" he repeated.

"No, that's a skull. A school is a place where children go to get an education." Dr. Light explained. Rock looked puzzled.

"Where they go to learn how to read, and how to solve problems, so they can get a job in the real world." Dr. Light continued.

"Do I have to go to this...school?"

"In August. I'm going to see if we can get you registered, but we'll need to give you a different identity so the press doesn't attack you."

"My name is Rock."

"Rock Light it is, then."

------------------------

When they finally reached the apartment room, Tron's mother tucked the baby under one arm and pulled a set of keys out of her pocket with the other. She then put the keys in the doorknob, turned them, and kicked the door open.

Blues didn't know how they could live in the conditions they were in, and now, he doubted it even more. There was a mattress, one dresser with one shelf, and no valuables or lamps. All the light came from a small candle on a tiny table in the far corner of the room. The table was nearby two other doorways, one of which probably lead to a bathroom, and the other to some kind of kitchen. The doorways had no actual doors, and rain leaked through small holes in the roof. There was one window with no curtains near the mattress. As far as he could tell, there was no form of air conditioning. There was no paint, just brick. There weren't any carpets. There were no toys. No books. No safes. No money.

It was all empty.

And it only seemed worse when Tron smiled a toothless smile, looked at Blues, and said something.

"Isn't it wonderful?"

--------------------------

Forte ran to and reached Wily in seconds. Before he could speak, Forte punched him with all of his might. The punch threw Wily against the back wall and knocked one of his teeth out. Blood dripped from Wily's mouth and down his chin.

"Enough! I don't care about your damn missions any longer! I'm going to find and destroy Mega Man myself, and accomplish what you never will! Robot or not, I am always stronger, I was always stronger, and I will always be stronger!" Forte roared.

Wily was scared now. Forte was still powerful, and now could easily kill him if he wanted to. And from the looks of it, Forte definitely wanted to.

"W-w-wait!" he stuttered. "I'll help you! I'll build weapons for you! A fortress! Anything!"

Forte threw his head back and laughed.

"The tables have finally turned, you crazy old man. This time, I'm calling the shots."

And with that, Forte Wily began to lay out _his _plan.

---------------------------

Blues was trying his hardest just to keep from looking sad or surprised, but it apparently wasn't working.

"I know, it isn't much…but it's all the charity can afford. They supply homes like this to hundreds of people, and it really is a lot better than living on the streets." the mom explained.

Personally, Blues disagreed, but he silently made a vow to help this family somehow. With literally no money or food, these people were giving him somewhere to stay. This was kindness the likes of which he had never seen before.

And he knew he had to return the favor somehow. For the more he stayed, the more worse off he realized they were.

The baby slept in the dresser drawer ("We can't afford a crib."), and the mother and Tron slept on the mattress. They offered to let him use the mattress, but he refused the offer. The only things they had to eat were canned foods donated by the charities, and they had very little of those. Even worse, they had no microwave. They ate everything cold.

He just couldn't believe that, to Tron, this miserable Hell of a home was paradise. He couldn't believe that one young woman could raise two children in here…alone. He couldn't understand how they had stayed alive all these years.

Again, Tron's mother seemed to be reading his mind.

"We've managed to survive by the grace of God." she said.

And as she blew out the candle and he laid down upon the cold brick floor, Blues wondered about this.

Whoever this God was, he was keeping them alive. And to them, that was all that mattered. They were happy with what they had. The shirts on their backs, and a roof, leaky or not, over their heads.

But he was going to give them more.


	5. Never Safe

**Chapter 5: Never Safe **

The next morning, Rock wasn't in his room. In fact, he wasn't even in the house at all. Instead, he had gone outside, for the first time outside of battles with Wily. The air was clear. The world was at peace. Tranquil. Peaceful. Refreshing.

As he sat on one of the rocks at the local park, he wished for something. That it could be this way…forever.

If only. If only.

------------------------

Tron woke up from a bad dream very early in the morning. At least, she guessed it was early. The sun wasn't out yet, anyways. Looking around her, she noticed someone wasn't there.

Blues was gone, and there was a yellow scarf laying on the floor. Picking it up, she saw an insignia she couldn't read.

"PROTO MAN"

------------------------

As Blues walked down the wooden stairs, he thought more and more about the hotel and it's inhabitants. The security in the charity hotel was incredibly non-existent. The secretary was always sleeping, and there were no security cameras or guards. Even though there wasn't much to steal, the entire building was still at serious risk. From the wooden stairs to the weak structure…he wouldn't be surprised if the entire building would fall down if you so much as poked it with a wooden stick, and would burn to the ground if you lit a match in front of it.

The lack of security had been the reason Tron's baby sister had been kidnapped. Because of this, he had met the Tron family, who had suddenly opened something inside him that could have never been there before.

The door. They simply opened the door, and he entered it. He entered it into a place full of faith and spirit, and lacking everything else. They were happy that they were alive. With what they did have, and not what they wanted.

And something had told him that, just perhaps, his search was over. Perhaps he had found where he belonged.

But there was something that made him leave that place. Worries.

It was Wily. _Wily._ And as long as that madman was alive, Blues would be alone forever.

For nobody who knew him, no place that held him…

Would ever be safe.

------------------------

In only a few hours, the sun had risen and children had arrived at the local park that Rock was at. Rock was just sitting on one of the large rocks that surrounded the park, and watching them.

They threw woodchips at each other, chased one another through pipes and tunnels, climbed and swung through miscellaneous metal pipes stuck together to make some form of climbing equipment…

Laughing. Playing. Happy. All of them innocent and young. Care-free.

Rock had never known those feelings. He had spent the first year of his life chasing down one of his creators, and the horrific distortions of his robot "brothers", Cut Man, Ice Man, Fire Man, Elec Man, Bomb Man, and Guts Man. He had mercilessly slaughtered them without so much as a second thought. So he could stop Wily.

And he had failed. More times than he could count, Wily had escaped again to unleash more Robot Masters upon the Earth, killing countless innocents on his quest for world domination. He had manipulated great scientists, stolen and reprogrammed other robots to his will…

It was hard to believe that Wily had been one of his creators. It was hard to believe Dr. Light had ever trusted him. He was reminded of something that Dr. Wily had said to him once…

It was a long time ago, and he had just defeated Wily yet again. As the fortress exploded in a geyser of flame and debris, Wily and Mega Man had stood facing each other on the edge of a far-away cliff.

"You always interfere with me!" Wily had growled, sticking his face inches away from Mega Man's own.

"I'll keep on fighting for peace for both humans and robots!" Mega Man had retorted.

"Peace for humans and robots?" Wily had scoffed. "Then why do you destroy my robots, you metallic hypocrite? Do you destroy robots to bring them peace? What's the difference between my actions and yours? We aren't so different, you and I!"

At those words, Mega Man had backed away, staring at his own hands in confused horror.

"Noooo!" he had screamed, refusing to believe it. "Can I really be the same as Wily? It's true that I destroy his robots with no hesitation! I could have negotiated with the robots instead of slaying them…I could have made peace…Am I as violent and evil as the man I oppose? Am I spreading war instead of stopping it?"

At that moment, Roll had appeared, smiling.

"It's not true, Mega Man! Don't listen to Wily, he's just playing mind games with you!" she had assured him. Auto, a giant green helper-bot that looked liked he had been made from recycled objects, joined in.

"That's right. You're doing the right thing, Mega Man!" he had yelled. Finally, Dr. Light finished.

"Sometimes peace can not be achieved unless those who spread war are destroyed."

That last sentence echoed in Rock's mind.

"_Unless those who spread war are destroyed…those who spread war are destroyed…spread war are destroyed…"_

But Wily had not been destroyed. He was still very much alive, plotting to attack again. Rock clenched his fists, and he could see the images in his head already..

Wily unleashing his attacks again, the sky filled with fire and smoke as a giant multi-armed monstrosity ripped the park he was standing in to shreds, throwing the bars and pipes at whatever got in it's way…merciless, unforgiving, literally bathing in cold blood…

He was shaken out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. A kid's hand.

"Hey, kid…you alright?" the kid asked.

Rock shook off his worries and nodded.

"C'mon and play, kid! We've never seen you around here before!" the kid yelled.

------------------

Now sitting on the edge of a tall building, Blues was thinking about his decision. He didn't really regret it, as he was used to being alone…and he would normally say he enjoyed it. But this time, he didn't exactly think that. He had only been gone for a short while, but he already missed…

His thoughts stopped, and pain ripped through his back, down his spine, and through every part of his body. Blues doubled over in pain and collapsed, blacking out and tumbling off the side of the building he had just been sitting on.

------------------

Rock was having difficulty…fitting in, in a manner of speaking. Not only was everything he did somewhat awkward, but he couldn't even look at anyone without the images of them being brutally murdered by one of Wily's death machines being burned into his mind.

He was just too used to seeing it happen. Almost all the time. And he knew it would happen all the time, until Wily was stopped for good. When he saw those people, he felt like he was looking at and talking with the dead. He almost felt like he wanted to be isolated from society again. Just to get away from it.

For how could he make friends, only to watch them die at the hands of the person he had spent his entire life destroying? How could he ever live a normal life?

But that was a question that nobody was going to give him the answer to.


	6. Rock, Roll, and Blues

**Chapter 6: Rock, Roll, and Blues**

"We've done everything we can. We've taken a sample of your blood and done every test on it known to men. Or doctors," the man explained to Blues, who had just woken up to find himself in a hospital. "And we've discovered the following:

It is not contagious. That means nobody else can get the virus."

Blues cringed at the word virus.

"We cannot find a cure or any kind of way to remove it."

Things began to click in Blue's mind.

"And if we don't find a way to cure or remove it in the next few months, it will multiply itself until your entire body will no longer be able to function."

It hit him, and he remembered a conversation with Light not too long ago...

Light had gripped Proto Man's shoulders, obviously worried. Proto Man had simply shrugged them off and looked away.

"Listen, Proto Man. How do you feel? Is your body holding up?" Light had asked, determined.

Proto Man had looked away again, and remained silent.

"You don't have to say anything. I know how you suffer, Proto Man. Your energy system has acquired a terrible defect...Unless it is fixed, your body will..." Dr. Light had continued. "And only I can fix your body as I am your creator..."

Proto Man had refused to listen to anymore of this. It was his body! Who was Dr. Light to tell him how well it worked?

"Don't worry about my problems," he had responded. "I know my body better than anybody else. And remember, I'm unbeatable! No matter what."

Dr. Light had sighed. "Don't talk that way, Proto Man. The war's over. Let's live together and keep the peace."

"That's not my style," Proto Man had replied, frustrated. "I'll do it myself! I don't need anybody! Nice chatting with you, Doc, but I've got things to do. Later."

He had walked away, waving sarcastically. Dr. Light had ran after him, yelling.

"Proto Man! Proto Man! Wait, you need to be repaired!"

"Damn!" he thought. "How could I have been so stubborn?"

"Do you have any relatives that we could contact? You still haven't told me your name." the man asked.

"It's now or never..." Blues thought.

"My name is Blues. My guardian is Dr. Thomas Light."

When Rock finally returned home, Dr. Light was getting in his car. When he noticed him, Dr. Light called out to him.

"Get in! We have a lot of things to do!"

Eager and yet ever so nervous, Rock hopped in the passenger-side door of the car and looked around. Dr. Light put the keys in the ignition and there was a loud "VROOOOOOOM" sound, followed by a steady hum.

Rock looked worried, and Dr. Light laughed.

"Don't worry, that's perfectly normal. Just be glad we aren't in Auto's car."

Rock smiled.

As Roll sweeped, dusted, and cleaned, there was a phone call. She dropped what she was carrying and ran to the nearest phone. She picked it up.

"Hello, Light residence. Who is calling?"

"This is the hospital calling about Blues Light. We need you to come over right away."

Roll went over her responses.

"We don't want any," she said, and hung up.

The doctor blinked, and hung up as well.

"Well?" Blues asked.

"He's not there, apparently..." the doctor answered, still confused. "Anybody else I can call?"

"Well, what about Dr. Wily?"

The man twitched.

"You know Dr. Wily?"

"Yeah, I do...he's my other guardian."

As they drove down the highway, Rock looked all around him, experimenting with all kinds of different things.

There was a button next to a handle on the door...but it was apparently stuck. There was another button near the window which made it go up and down, but it stopped working after a little while... And there was a panel just in front of him that had a CD slot in it, and a few dials.

He turned some of them, and sounds came from somewhere in the car. The sounds were voices!

_"Today's music ain't got the same soul_

_I like that old time rock and roll_

_Still like that old time rock and roll_

_That kind of music just soothes the soul_

_I reminisce about the days of old_

_With that old time rock and roll..."_

_The music had a fast, but steady beat to it...Rock found himself liking it, and not just because it had his and his sister's name in it._

"_Call me a relic call me what you will,_

_Say I'm old fashioned say I'm over the hill._

_Today's music ain't got the same soul,_

_I like that old time rock and roll."_

_Rock found himself tapping his foot. So this was music..._

"As long as he doesn't touch anything else in the car..." Dr. Light sighed, smiling. He somehow found himself liking the song too. This was much better than modern music.

The doctor looked like he was filled with rage, so Blues quickly explained.

"I was just joking! He used to know me when they still worked together!"

The man calmed down, and went to his computer.

"There, Dr. Light's cell phone number..." he sighed.

"_Just take those old records off the shelf,_

_I'll sit and listen to 'em by myself,_

_Today's music ain't got the same soul,_

_I like that old time rock and roll."_

_The music stopped, suddenly interrupted by a different sound. It was a loud ringing. Rock stared quizzically at the speakers, and Dr. Light pressed a button near the panel with the CD on it._

"Hello, this is Dr. Light." he said to the window. Rock stared, confused. Had Light gone mad?

"This is the hospital, calling about Blues Light. We need you to come over right away."

At the name, Dr. Light practically steered off the side of the road.

"I-I'm on my way."

"I've got what you wanted." said a voice on the other side of Wily's telephone.

"Good, good. Send it over right away." Wily responded.

"Nuh-uh-uh, you overeager evil genius." the other person taunted. "I want my payment ready. And no tricks. They're in a package that only be activated by me. And I won't give them over until I get my money. I'm coming over there."

"Whatever. Just get over here. I need those things now!" Dr. Wily yelled.

"Understood." said the other man, hanging up.

Dr. Wily hung up as well, and eyed a black substance floating around in a nearby test tube.

"It won't be much longer, Forte."


	7. No Rush Needed

**Chapter 7: No Rush Needed**

For the past day or two, Rush had been feeling quite lonely. Mega Man hadn't paid attention to him at all! This was a lot unlike his friend...usually, Mega Man was always around...but today, nothing! No sign of him in the house at all! He couldn't even track him anymore, to see if anything had happened to him.

He put his head down upon the ground and listened. He heard Roll's voice! Maybe Roll knew where Mega Man was! Excited again, he bounded out of the room and down the hallway...and ran straight into Roll, knocking her over.

* * *

Forte eyed one of Wily's robots, his thoughts filled with jealousy, his eyes showing not-very-subtle rage. 

The robot he was looking at had long golden hair that flowed down past it's legs. It looked more like a girl than the killer robot it was probably supposed to be. It had red and white armor, and was quite slender. It looked like it would be quite fast.

But nowhere near as fast as he had been. This new creation of Wily's would never compare to him! Nothing would...and he felt so enraged at this abomination, he wanted to destroy it right now...

His thoughts were interrupted by Wily entering the room.

"I see you're admiring Zero." he remarked sarcastically. Forte scoffed.

"There's nothing to admire about this ugly, girly thing..." he growled. Wily tried not to feel insulted.

"The hair makes him more aerodynamic, OK?" Wily lied. Forte just laughed. Completely ignoring how utterly lame that excuse was, he continued.

"So, Doc, why isn't it finished yet?"

"There wasn't really any need for rush...not until now, anyways. Besides, I thought you'd want your stupid dog fixed more..."

At that, Forte's rage exploded, and he grabbed Wily by the neck with both hands, and held tight.

"What do you mean by fixed? Where the hell is he? What did you do?" he snarled, threatening to tighten his grip on Wily's neck even more.

"Let go! Let go! You already know what happened! Stop getting so worked up over it! Gah!" Wily yelled frantically, struggling.

"I...do?" Forte said, letting go.

"Yes, you do!" Wily exclaimed, rubbing his neck. "Something happened to him, and I've been trying to fix him for weeks! For your damn sake!"

"Fine then. Get back to work." Forte stated, without any anger at all. He seemed stunned, as if something in him had clicked.

"Will do..." Wily muttered, just as Forte said something that almost made him jump out of his shoes.

"Sorry."

* * *

"Rush?" Roll said, rising to her feet. She looked around, but Rush was nowhere to be seen. She knew that was what knocked her over, though. She was the only one here. Well, except for Beat, Tango, and Auto, but she rarely saw them anyways. 

When she got up, Auto was right in front of her.

"You OK?" he asked.

"Just fine." she responded. "Did you see where Rush went?"

"No clue. Haven't seen Mega Man or Beat or Tango all day either."

"I usually don't see any of you."

"Usually, Tango is avoiding Rush, Beat is sleeping, and I'm working in my shop most of the time. It doesn't get much business, though. So, have you seen any of them?"

Roll looked worried. Auto felt the same way quite suddenly.

"Why do you look so sad?" he asked. He wanted to try and cheer her up, but he couldn't seem to think of anything. Improvising, he pulled a fan out of nowhere, waved it around, and struck a pose.

Roll laughed, just as Tango ran into the room scurried in-between her legs. Rush quickly followed it, knocking Roll over again. Auto put the fan away, grabbed Rush, and sighed.

"There you are."

* * *

"Thanks, Doc." Blues said as he climbed in the car. 

"It's not a problem. I just wish I could've fixed it while I had the chance." Dr. Light replied, as he climbed in the car and started the ignition. The car made the humming sound again, and began moving.

"Wait, while you had the chance? What do you mean?" Blues asked.

"You're a person now. I can't repair you. You'll have to stay with us for a few days, while I try to see if I can find a way to cure it." he explained. Blues sighed. He wasn't planning on staying for long.

The radio blared again, this time playing a much different song. The song had a slow, pounding beat, the voice assertive and powerful.

_Buddy you're a young man hard man  
Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day  
You got blood on yo' face  
You big disgrace  
Wavin' your banner all over the place  
We will we will rock you  
We will we will rock you_

Rock found himself really liking this one. Blues did a little bit. Dr. Light was deep in thought.

"So, where are we going now, Dad?" Rock asked, clapping along with the song.

"We're going to take a quick look at your school." Light replied, smiling.


	8. Just As Human

**Chapter 8: Just as Human**

Dr. Light arrived at the school discovering that he had seriously lost track of the time. According to the school officer that was standing outside, the school wouldn't open for visiting until that afternoon, and it was still early.

"Whoops..." Dr. Light said, chuckling nervously. Rock grinned from the car, and Blues groaned. "Well, at least we can get you registered for next year..."

Rock grinned even wider. This "school" thing was something he had heard about, and he had always been a twinge jealous of the people who went to it, since he couldn't. But now he could, and he could make friends! Real friends! At this thought, he mentally hit himself. Auto, Roll, and the others had always been his friends...his real ones. And they still were real now...sort of.

"Come on, Rock!" Dr. Light called out. Dropping his train of thought, he opened the door ran after him. He then realized that Blues wasn't following, and in fact was still in the car.

"Aren't you coming?" Rock asked. Blues shook his head.

"Just go on ahead..."

* * *

If Roll could shed tears, she probably would be shedding a lot. Her worry for Rock and the others had taken over, and she was in a state of depression. Auto had given up trying to cheer her up, as it was no longer working.

Roll knew Dr. Light being gone was normal, but the house had never been this empty or lacking of activity, even when Dr. Wily wasn't around. Out loud, she wished something would happen...

At that very moment, Auto informed her that someone was at the door.

* * *

Forte looked at the beginnings of his first machine. In a matter of about two days, he had completed all the blueprints. All of Wily's machines had allowed him to begin to build them. The first one was already looking magnificent...it was his exact height, but it was fives times his length, and it looked like a giant metal oval with six huge claws. The claws had guns mounted in them, and the main body was covered in an enormous outer shell that reflected all attacks back at the attacker. If it all worked right, the robot would have no noticeable weaknesses...but he planned on testing that theory upon its completion.

"What the hell are you going to call it? Scorpion Man?" Wily interrupted out of nowhere.

"STOP. DOING. THAT." Forte growled, taking a deep breath and speaking calmly afterwards. "No, I'm not. I'm not calling him one of your silly names."

"Whatever." Wily sighed, leaving. He felt kind of sad, even though he knew that Forte had never appreciated him before either...

After Wily left, Forte went down to the blueprints, and looked at "NAME". The line was still blank, but he grabbed a pen and wrote something.

"SCORPION MAN"

* * *

The someone at the door was a tall, skinny teenage boy, with messy orange hair and deep blue eyes that seemed disturbingly distant. He was also wearing a red backpack over a loose black jacket that had the words "YOU WILL BOW TO ME" under a picture of a cartoon child with a large oval head, and a pair of black pants. He looked around, and then noticed Roll.

"Oh, you must be one of Dr. Light's robots," he said, looking down and smiling at her in the way you'd smile to a small child. It annoyed her. She wasn't a child. "Is he around?"

Roll shook her head, and the boy sighed.

"Can I wait for him to arrive?"

"Why are you here?"

The boy smiled that annoying smile again. "I'm doing a report on people that have inspired me, and that person would be Dr. Light."

Accepting this, Roll nodded, and the boy walked in and lied down on a couch. After a short while, he took a thin black laptop out of his backpack and turned it on. After a short wait, the boy began typing furiously. Roll decided to keep her nose out of it.

"This is a nice place." The boy said after a while longer. Roll nodded silently. There was another bit of silence, interrupted by the tapping of fingers on a keyboard.

"Hey, can you answer a few questions?" the boy asked her. Roll turned towards him.

"OK."

* * *

Rock looked around in awe at the school building as he entered it. It seemed positively enormous on the inside, and was filled with sounds…voices, laughter, and footsteps, as a ton of people of different sizes walked down the hallways. Turning, Rock saw a clock. It was an unusual clock, with different sized moving sticks pointing towards numbers. One of the sticks moved quickly, one of them moved slowly, and one didn't seem to move at all.

"What time is it?" Rock asked. Dr. Light looked at the clock.

"Noon." Dr. Light responded, as he turned towards a door down a hallway and opened it. Rock followed.

* * *

"Hey, thanks," the boy said, smiling that smile again. "Alright, first question… How many robots has Dr. Light built?"

"Um…" Roll said, a little stumped. She counted the ones she knew of…Mega Man, herself, Proto Man, Cut Man, Elec Man, Bomb Man, Ice Man, Guts Man, Fire Man, Rush, Auto…

"A lot?" she tried. The boy sighed.

"Nevermind."

* * *

When Rock and Dr. Light entered, there was a thin, dark-skinned person sitting in front of a wooden desk, typing on a computer screen. When Dr. Light entered, she looked surprised, and when Rock entered, she looked even more surprised.

"Young man! What are you doing outside of class without a hall-" the lady began angrily, turning towards Rock. Rock took a step backwards, surprised by the sudden outburst.

"That's my son." Dr. Light interrupted. The lady was surprised again, but this time smiled.

"Your son? I didn't know you had a son…well, welcome to the school then! Are you planning on registering?"

Dr. Light nodded, and the lady got up and walked towards a large green cabinet. She clicked it open, pulled out a drawer, and pulled something out of it.

"Thank goodness we still have a few copies leftover…Just fill all these forms out, and return them to us ASAP!" She said happily, handing him the papers. Dr. Light nodded, took the papers, and walked out.

"Is that it?" Rock asked as they left the room. Dr. Light nodded, and walked down the hallway again.

"Yes, until this afternoon. Then we get to take a real look at your school," he explained. Rock was overeager already.

* * *

The boy, getting bored now, had stopped typing and was now playing games. He seemed to move with the character on the screen, until there was a screaming sound from the speakers and the boy threw his hands up in frustration.

"Damn!" he said, pressing two keys at once. The image on the screen vanished, and the boy sighed again. He put away his laptop, and put it back inside his backpack.

"Thanks anyways, kid. I need to get home, but I'll try again later," he said, swinging the backpack around his shoulders and walking out the door. Seconds later, there was the sound of a car pulling up, and some excited talking.

The door opened again, and the boy came back in, closely followed by Dr. Light and Rock. Upon seeing Rock, Roll yelled out in surprise and gave him a tight hug.

* * *

Dr. Light was pulling up into the driveway when a teenage boy with orange hair and black clothing walked out of his house. The boy saw them, grinned, and ran over. He started speaking really fast, the grin never leaving his face.

"Hello, Dr. Light! I'm David Wren! I'm one of your biggest fans, and you've motivated a lot of my studies, and are the reason I want to have a career in designing robots! I need to do a report on you for school, and I must ask you…can I interview you?"

Dr. Light was taken aback.

"Uh…sure. Just step inside. I'll be there in a minute," he replied. David grinned, and then noticed Rock.

"Hello? Who is this?" he asked. Rock looked at him, and extended his hand.

"I'm Rock!"

David didn't return the handshake.

"Is he a robot?" he asked. Dr. Light shook his head. "Then is he adopted?"

Dr. Light was silent, and David looked nervous.

"I guess it's none of my business," he said awkwardly, as Dr. Light and Rock stepped out of the car and they all walked towards the door. Blues, once again, did not follow.

* * *

David got out his laptop again as they entered, and began asking questions.

"How many robots have you made?"

"I think I've made about fifteen or twenty."

"What do you consider your greatest achievement?"

"I like them all equally."

"Do you consider your robots your children, as if they were real things rather than machines?"

"Yes, I do. They can be as real and loving as human beings are."

"I see…now, here's an interesting question to think about…If you could change your robots into humans, would you? Or the other way around?"

"I think I'd leave that decision up to them."

"But if they are robots, do they really have that choice? Are they capable of making such decisions?"

Roll stopped listening. This boy made her sound like she was nothing more than a pile of metal, and she wanted to leave. Deciding that was a better choice, she did leave. Dr. Light noticed.

"I'm not sure, but I think we're offending her…" he pointed out.

"It's an it. Not a her." David corrected. Roll had not fully left the room yet, and this final sentence hit her like a large knife.

"…I think that's enough." Dr. Light said. David looked offended.

"I'm sorry…I don't know many people who care about their robots so much. I'll try to be more understanding."

* * *

Running out of Wily's lab, Treble barked and jumped at Forte, knocking him over. His four paws resting on Forte's chest, he panted and howled at the air.

"Good to see you again, Treble." Forte said, laughing. Dr. Wily didn't seem to be around, but Forte thanked him silently. After all, him and Treble were like an arm in an arm socket…it would take quite a lot to separate them.


	9. Best Friend

**Chapter 9 : Best Friend**

"Do you mean to tell me that I'm the only person you've ever seen who considers robots more than just machines?" Dr. Light asked David, surprised.

"Yes, that's just it…I'm so used to robots being treated like tools, I tend to correct people about it without thinking. Sorry…" David apologized.

"Ah, I see…anymore questions?"

"Just a few. What's your personal motivation for building robots?"

"Originally, I wanted to help people in ways they couldn't be helped before. But, later on, I wanted people to accept robots as people, as members of society."

David typed furiously, shooing off Rock, who was currently leaning over his back to see what he was typing.

"Go play video games or something, kid." he said, and Rock walked off to go find something to do. He decided to go visit Blues, and see if he wanted to go anywhere yet.

* * *

"What has been your biggest disappointment in your robot building career?"

Roll was in another room and could still hear them, but she wasn't really listening. She had found her mental sanctuary doing what she did best. Cleaning. Dusting and straightening. Somehow, that made her happy, but she had never understood why, as she had never really given it much thought.

But who did that David think he was? Talking about her as if she wasn't there…

"Wily betraying me has to be the worst thing that's ever happened to me, without a doubt," Dr. Light replied.

Roll sighed, trying to keep her mind off it. Somehow, what David had said and the way he had acted had triggered depressing thoughts in her…

If she was as human as she was supposed to be, she could cry.

* * *

Blues wasn't in the car when Rock went to it. He knew that Blues hadn't gone in the house either, and that meant only one thing…Blues had run away. This wasn't unusual, so Rock simply walked back in the house to go find something else to do. Maybe he'd go visit Roll instead.

He hated to leave, but the good Doctor had already told him he couldn't fix him, so he had decided it'd be pointless to stay. He didn't know where he wanted to go, but all he wanted now was something to do…Suddenly, he remembered. He had known for a while that there'd be a fair coming around town…and for some bizarre reason, he'd always wanted to go to one of those. But he never could before…

Well, it couldn't hurt now.

The only problem was finding a way to get there…he didn't even know where it was! He hated to ask for help, but he really didn't feel he had much of a choice…so he stopped a lady and a child that were passing by, and asked for directions.

* * *

"What kind of robots do you plan to build someday?" David asked.

"I plan to build a robot that's exactly like a person…one that is capable of making it's own decisions, and will learn from the world around it. My hope is that it will help seal the bond between robots and people." Dr. Light responded.

"A robot that can make it's own decisions? Interesting…but it sounds dangerous as well. If someone used the robot for other purposes, what will happen?"

"Don't worry. The robot would be given many years of ethical testing to make sure that nothing like that can possibly happen."

"How much progress have you made?"

"Not much, exactly, but some developments have come up that may help assist me in my research."

"Thanks, Dr. Light. That's all I need for my report." David said, clicking something and closing the laptop. He extended his hand and Dr. Light shook it.

"Do you think you can do me a favor, though?" Dr. Light asked.

"Sure, anything. What?"

"You owe some_one_ an apology."

* * *

Roll was surprised when Mega Man came over to where she was and asked her if she was alright. She shook her head, the words that David had said still echoing within her mind. Mega Man did something unusual then.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed. She didn't understand the gesture, but Mega Man seemed sad. He was crying, and the tears hit her bright red dress one by one.

"I heard what he said, and it made you sad, and I don't like it when people are sad, especially you. You're my best friend." Mega Man babbled. Roll felt awkward, especially when David walked in the room.

* * *

When David entered, he was immediately greeted by Rock, who turned towards him and gave him a cold look. There were tears streaming down his face, and David felt shocked, realizing he had really hurt more than just the robot.

Feeling incredibly awkward, he walked over to Roll, bent down, and looked her in the eyes. He tried to give a friendly smile.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have acted the way I did," he tried to say. Unfortunately, before he could get a word out, someone had hit him on the back of the head. Hard.

* * *

Forte and Treble were trying to merge like they used to. Forte jumped into the air, and Treble jumped above him, trying to land on him as they focused. It ended with Treble knocking Forte onto the ground, practically crushing him.

Instead of getting angry, he felt sad. They couldn't merge like they used to anymore. Forte cursed silently, and Treble whimpered.

"Don't do that…it's not your fault." Forte said, patting Treble's head reassuringly. Treble barked happily, and Forte stood up.

* * *

Roll was shocked at what Rock had done, but she couldn't say she wasn't happy. David had kind of deserved it. She was silent for a while, and then David pulled himself together again and glared at Rock.

"Hey! I was trying to say sorry!" he yelled. Quickly, he turned back towards Roll, gave her a small hug, and finished what he had been trying to say earlier before leaving.

She could hear him telling Dr. Light what Rock had just done. So, quickly, Roll gave Rock a hug as well, and whispered "Thank you." Then she went into another room.

* * *

"You shouldn't hit people for no reason." Dr. Light scolded. "Even if they hurt your feelings, you're going to get into a lot of trouble at school if you do that."

"Sorry." Rock replied, suddenly feeling as if he had just swallowed a large rock. He waited for more, but Dr. Light didn't say anything.

"Just try not to do it again." Dr. Light finished, smiling. He looked at a nearby clock. It was now one in the afternoon. "Just four hours until it's time to go."

* * *

Not only did the woman know where the fair was, she was heading there. In fact, she was only walking there because it wasn't too far away!

Blue's sudden luck thrilled him. It looked like his last month of life was going to be a very enjoyable one after all.

* * *

Rock went to find something to do, and ran right into Rush, tripping over him. When Rock realized who it was, he was thrilled, but Rush was surprised by the sudden appearance of this person, especially since he didn't recognize him.

Fearing for his family's safety, he growled at the newcomer, and started barking loudly. Rock was surprised, and began to quickly back away. This wasn't like Rush at all!

Roll ran in only a few minutes later, and whistled. Rush stopped growling and ran after her happily, leaving Rock confused and lonely.

* * *

Forte stopped working on his robots and played with Treble instead, throwing things at him and watching him run off to catch them, then bring them back. Treble was a much better dog than Rush was, for sure. Mega Man should be jealous.

After a few more minutes of their game, they went to do all the other things they used to do. They explored the lab, bothered Wily, and even went to play with the old Robot Masters…

But when they went to do that last thing, they ran into something that surprised them.


	10. Never Change

_Author's Note: The lyrics at the end of this chapter are actually written by me this time. All other lyrics will possibly be altered as soon as I get ae-mail response from Fanfiction about their...rather odd policy. That is all._

**Chapter 10: Never Change**

Forte and Treble discovered that they run right into Elec Man. Normally, Elec Man would just stand there and really not do anything when Bass was around, but instead the robot master was giving Forte a cold glare.

"So, you're a human, huh?"

"Uh, yeah.." Forte stammered, feeling a bit uneasy. Elec Man had a lot of power, and certainly looked angry. Forte was a little scared, but he tried to act like himself. He didn't know what that would accomplish, but it wouldn't hurt to try.

"Yeah, I am. What, are you jealous?" he boasted, his voice almost cracking. Then he thought. "Oh wait, yes, it will hurt to try. I think it's about to."

* * *

The first thing that caught Blue's attention when he got to the fair was a group of booths that had guns on them, as well as baseballs and miscellaneous targets. The next thing he noticed was that the place was filled with people. Everywhere. 

People of all shapes, sizes, and ages, talking, chattering, pushing through each other, some tired, some full of energy, and some bored stiff. In fact, him just standing there looking around caused ten people to push him around in an attempt to get past him.

Thinking about it, this might not be as fun as he thought. But since it might be the only chance he gets, he might as well try. Pushing through people, he headed to the booths.

* * *

Rock and Dr. Light got in the car, as it was finally time to head to the school and see what it was like. Rock was still just as eager as he had been before, and for good reason. He had a feeling this might be the best thing that ever happened to him. 

On the way there, they passed the local fair, and Rock stared in awe at it. Almost immediately, he turned to Dr. Light.

"Can we go there?"

Light looked at what Rock was pointing at.

"Sure, when we get back from your school, we'll go."

* * *

Elec Man narrowed his eyes even further, obviously even more angered by what Forte had just said. 

"I'm not jealous of you becoming human at all! I'm tired of being the one who always gets left behind to collect dust! _I _used to be Wily's greatest creation! I was the original, mightiest Robot Master! Then I was _replaced_ by everyone down to that stupid Tengu Man! And _you_! Wily asked for Tengu Man's help more times than he ever asked for mine…" Elec Man began ranting. Forte looked around him for some way to get away from this. Elec Man had apparently lost it.

"I begged for Wily's help to defeat Mega Man again! I was never granted _my_ wish! And here you are, a human being! Truly, Wily must have outdone himself doing this…but you get the special treatment! Just like always!" Elec Man growled, his body beginning to glow fiercely as sparks danced around it. Forte knew he had to run, but he suddenly felt as if his feet had been glued to the floor. Treble growled.

Out of nowhere, there was a sickening crunching sound and Elec Man collapsed onto the ground. Behind him, Guts Man walked in.

"Wow. Is he dead?" Forte asked.

"…He's sleeping." Guts Man muttered, unphased.

* * *

Rock and Dr. Light arrived at the school and started to drive into the parking lot. There weren't very many places to park, and after driving in circles to find an empty spot for a few minutes, Dr. Light found someone parking in the grass, and did the same. 

He turned off the car, interrupting a song called "Bring Me To Life" in mid-sentence ("Without a soul, my spirit's sleeping somewhere-"). Then, they proceeded to get out of the car and enter the building.

Upon approaching the large, black, windowed doors, Dr. Light noticed a sign on them that read "Pre-registered students, please go to the assembly for the Open House assembly. Non-registered students and/or students without a schedule, please head to the main office to register and/or receive one after heading to the library." Dr. Light followed its instructions, and he and Rock went to the gym, which was located next to the cafeteria.

* * *

Blues finally got to the booth, and discovered that there was luckily no line. As he reached it though, a kid pushed him over and knocked him to the ground. The kid then started yelling about how "he had been there first", and Blues got quite a bit angry. He decided that it wasn't a good time to argue, though, and went to the booth next to it, where you threw baseballs at a group of bowling pins. 

There wasn't a line here either, but there weren't many prizes. Apparently, everyone who wanted to play this already had, but he wanted to try anyways. The man at the booth was sleeping soundly, and Blues stood there for a few minutes before clapping his hands in front of the man's face.

The man woke up instantly, yelling something about fire hoses. He calmed down again a few moments later, and looked at Blues.

"Oh, a customer. It's 25 cents per ball."

Blues stared at the man and reached into his pocket…he knew what human currency was (the only thing robots needed currency for is Auto's shop, and he takes bolts), and he hoped he had been smart enough to bring some. He did find something…a green dollar bill. He gave that to the man.

* * *

The library was filled with murmuring, whispering, crying, and a lot of excited talking and giggles. Rock and Dr. Light sat down in the nearest available seat (the entire room, sans the bookshelves, had been cleared out to make room for the parents and students). A few minutes after they had sat down, it was exactly the right time, and the lights in the room shut off. 

A few of the youngest students released screams of fright, until there was a whirring sound and a light appeared from a projector above. The light hit a screen, showing a photograph of the school with the words "Welcome to Monstropolis Elementary!" under it in large black letters.

Some of the parents rolled their eyes. The kids stared as a man walked up next to the screen and introduced himself.

"Hello, my name is Mr. Welsh. I am your principal." He said in a somewhat cheerful manner.

Dr. Light was a bit confused already. Why did they need an assembly for this? And such a rushed one? From what he heard, most schools simply had food and beverages and got to meet the staff and teachers. This was a little too formal.

"I must apologize in advance for your discomfort. If this seems a little rushed, it's because it was. We were going to have food and refreshments in the cafeteria, but unfortunately…a lot of our school was caught in the crossfire of Wily and that ever-so-lovable Mega Man." The principal continued, sarcastically emphasizing ever-so-lovable. "As a result, we're having to make exceptions while we repair the school, and we do not want a picnic in our library."

Some of the parents looked upset. Rock and Dr. Light were a bit angry, as Rock thought the principal should be glad he even HAD a school anymore. The only reason anything was still standing was because of him.

"So, today's plan is to have this short assembly, and then head off to meet your teachers. On another note, if you have schedules, you'll need to get new ones, as some of our classrooms are under repair as well, and some slight changes have had to been made. Once again, thank your robotic hero for that."

More groans from parents. Rock held his anger inside him.

* * *

Forte kicked Elec Man's unconscious body, and got a spark of electricity on his foot, which promptly set on fire. Forte yelled in pain, and Guts Man tried to put out the fire…using his foot. 

Luckily, he missed accidentally crushing it. Forte stared at him.

"Please don't do that."

"Sorry. So, Bass, the other Robot Masters heard you became a human. A lot of the pompous ones, like Elec Man here, are jealous, but the rest of us want to congratulate you!" Guts Man announced. "So come on!"

Quickly, Guts Man grabbed Forte and Treble by the waists and dragged them into the room of old Robot Masters. Forte was beginning to really wonder if visiting them had been a good idea. Treble whimpered.

* * *

Blues held a baseball in his hand, and looked at the targets. Carefully, he thought about his aim…got ready to toss it…and did so. 

The ball went an amazing three inches before gravity hit it and it fell to the ground. The man stared.

"Uh…I won't count that one…" he said, giving it back. Blues tried again, preparing to throw the ball…

And threw it hard and fast. It flew with much more speed and power, but it missed the targets by a mile. It went above them and fell to the ground with a large clunk. The man stared again.

"Uh, OK…you've got three more shots, and ten more pins." He said, giving Blues another ball.

Blues got ready to throw this one, and threw it with the same speed and power as before. This time, it flew straight at its designated target, and hit the center pin. The pin wobbled a bit, and fell into another pin.

"Well, still 8 more targets. You've got 2 balls left."

Blues tried for the fourth time, throwing it with more power…and this time, it hit the pins with much more force, knocking down all but two.

"Much better! Now that's an arm!" the man cheered, giving him the final ball.

Blues threw it at one of the final pins, as he couldn't throw it at both. They were at the end, on opposite sides. It hit the one on left with quite a bit of force, and the pin went sailing. It went straight towards the other one…

And stopped. The man shrugged, told him he had played a good game, and gave him his prize. It was a giant…lollipop? That was very anti-cool, but he kept it anyways.

Playing that had been fun. In fact, he barely noticed the increasing pain in his chest.

* * *

After what seemed like forever, the assembly was over. After getting their schedules and meeting their teachers, they got a short explanation of where everything in the school was. The younger kids were tired and bored, some were whining and crying, the parents were annoyed, and Rock was still mad, but luckily, they were all going home now. 

He hoped when it was actually time for school, it'd be a lot more fun. In fact, everything he had been look forward to never happened, and he hadn't even talked to his teachers that much, so the whole thing had been uneventful and pointless. He had quickly wanted to go home.

Then he remembered he had also wanted to go to the fair, so he reminded Dr. Light that, and they drove off.

* * *

Forte stared at all the robot masters looking over him. Some stared in awe, some poked and prodded, but all he knew is that the room was hot, cold, and filled with a lot of electricity all at the same time. 

For Treble, that wasn't even a problem. For Forte, it was. The excessive heat mixed with the artic cold and bolts of electricity was going to make him sick. Or get him injured. He kind of missed not seeing Shadow Man around, but the robot master seemed to be avoiding him too.

"Can I go yet?" he asked.

"Why?" said Cut Man, poking him with a blade and slightly puncturing his arm. "Aren't you comfortable?"

"OW!" Forte yelled out, holding his arm. "No, I'm not comfortable! It's too hot AND too cold, and someone is filling me with electricity! And you just stabbed me!"

"Oh, sorry…I wanted to see if you had any fluids like us! Looks like you do, but I don't remember them being dark red…"

"That's because it's BLOOD. Not OIL or whatever I used to have." Forte snapped.

"Well, you act the same at least!" Spark Man quipped. Guts Man noticed something for the first time, and removed Spark Man's electric rods from Forte's shoulder.

"Hey everyone! We need to back off a little!" Top Man announced, and everyone did so.

* * *

Blues crashed into someone, turned around, and crashed into someone else. He then went backwards and crashed into yet another person, then turned clockwise and prepared himself to go right into someone else… 

When the bumper car ride stopped, and he had to get out. He was really liking this fair thing. As he got out of the bumper car, an announcement rang out.

"The world-famous band 'The Geminis' is now performing their newest hit, "Never change", LIVE at the stage!"

Blues decided that it'd be fun to go, but he didn't know where the stage was. Luckily, the music started ringing out, so he followed that. The music had a slow beat, with rock overtones. As the song carried, the whole thing got progressively louder.

_"I've changed a lot.  
In recent days._

_I've changed a lot.  
In many ways._

_I've changed a lot,  
But some things are still the same._

_I hope you see those things,  
And I hope you'll understand…_

_That no matter what I go through,  
Things will still go as planned!_

_No matter what troubles I may face,  
I will not die!_

_No matter what things I go through,  
I won't stop.._

_I'll continue to try."_


	11. What Side You Land On

**Chapter 11: What Side You Land On**

"Finally!" Forte yelled out as everyone backed away. The temperature hit a medium point again, and Forte let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey, Forte! Can you still blow stuff up?" Bomb Man asked. Forte shrugged and held his arm out in front of him. Nothing happened.

"Did we break you?" Cut Man asked.

"No, I just can't form my blaster anymore. This sucks…I can't fuse with Treble either." Forte sighed.

The other robot masters looked sad. Watching Forte blow stuff up and fuse with Treble had always been cool.

"If it makes you feel better, we can blow stuff up for you!" Bomb Man yelled out, forming two lit bombs. Forte paled, but it was too late. Everyone else joined in, and Forte and Treble bolted out of the room as a display of powerful fireworks filled it.

The sounds of ripping wind, glass shattering, and explosions were quickly followed by a faint teleporting sound and Wily screaming at the top of his lungs, and then the movement of large feet.

* * *

"Why won't you understand…  
That things will always be this way now…

There isn't anything to turn it back,  
Unless you can tell me how…

Because I can't turn back time,  
Some things will never change…"

The song, in Blue's ears, was suddenly interrupted by a tapping on his shoulder, so he flipped around and saw a most surprising guest.

"Proto Man! What are you doing here?"

* * *

"Your stupid robots could have KILLED me!" Forte yelled. Wily just blinked.

"It's not my fault you were screwing around with them." Wily responded calmly, sweating slightly. Forte was mad, after all.

"They wanted to know about me being human! Some of them were nicer about it than others…one of them tried to kill me because he was jealous!"

"Robots don't have feelings, Forte."

At those words, Forte's mouth hung open.

"What do you mean? Of course they have feelings! One was jealous of you never paying attention to him! I hate Mega Man! I had feelings and could make choices!"

Wily sighed. "No, actually, you couldn't. Every "feeling" you had was pre-programmed. Everything they did was a choice made by their programming. They have as much choice as a coin does of choosing what side it lands on."

"They were curious about me! They were thinking, they knew my personality, all of it… they even tried to blow stuff up for me since I couldn't…"

"They're just adapting to new things, based on what they already have. If they couldn't, they would be stuck in a loop…and they'd be failures."

Forte thought for a minute.

"How would that make them any different from a human?"

"Humans don't have limits placed on them that keep them from doing things they shouldn't, no matter how much they want to. Humans don't have to follow every command their creator gives them, if they are programmed to. The difference between robots and humans is that while a robot and a human can both desire to do something, only the human can actually act on it no matter what it is."

"But we can think and act on our own will…"

"Something without reason, instinct, or motivation won't do anything. Those are things they had to have. And it was all programmed…when I program the robot masters, it's simple… destroy Megaman on instinct, that is your motivation, my orders are your reason."

"But that's basically what humans are!"

"Humans can change their reasons and motivations at will! Can robots do that?"

"What about King?"

"King was the biggest failure I've ever made… a robot that somehow shattered his own programming! I think I might have accidentally thrown free will into him…"

* * *

After tapping Blues on the shoulder, Rock had definitely not gotten the response he expected. Blues looked around, stared at him, and ran for his life.

"Proto Man?" Rock wondered, watching Blues run as Dr. Light struggled to catch up. Neither one bothered following, and instead watched the stage as the song hit its finale.

"No matter what I go through…

I! Will! Not! Die!"

* * *

As Blues ran, he began slowing down in a matter of minutes, becoming increasingly sluggish. His arms dragged down to the ground, he began to sweat, and the pain in his chest got worse. A vendor he walked by noticed and offered him a free drink.

"Whoa kid, are you OK?" he asked.

"I'm…just fine…" Blues said, taking the drink and swallowing it in one gulp. It didn't help any, and Blue's breathing was getting labored. He stopped moving and leaned against a booth.

The pain is his chest seemed to explode in magnitude for a split second, during which his knees buckled and he collapsed onto the booth, sliding down the front of it until he was flat across the ground, lying on his stomach.

* * *

The song quickly stopped, as the band stopped playing and stared in front of them in shock. As the song and the crowd quieted, people could hear sirens breaking the night air.

Everyone turned around and quickly moved out of the way as a stretcher came their way and ran past them, going in the direction Blues had gone.

"Oh no…" Dr. Light whispered, as the stretcher began to come back, followed by a group of other people. Dr. Light didn't see who was on it, but it seemed so obvious…he heard a band member ask one of the people that had been following the stretcher what happened.

"The impossible…a kid about 10-years old just had a heart attack."

* * *

"Well, how do you know we didn't just all break our programming like King?" Forte asked.

"Ha, don't make me laugh. Mega Man's the same way. Originally, he was programmed to be a lab assistant, and then he was reprogrammed to be a battle robot to save the world! He never chose to become a battle robot, he was made to. It became his purpose, and he set off to do it because it was his purpose. Proto Man had no purpose, so he defected and set off on his own! Your purpose was to destroy Mega Man, so that's all you ever thought about!" Wily debated back.

"But I'm human now! And I still want to kill Mega Man!"

"…That I can't explain…when you became human, your personality must have stuck with you… But there is another thing… As a human, you could attack me! You almost murdered your own creator!"

"…Wait a minute. If I have to follow all your orders, why didn't I destroy Proto Man when you told me to?"

Wily had no response to that, and gave up.

"I don't have time for this! Enough with this debate…and your dinner's getting cold. Start eating."

Wily pointed to the clock, which said "6:00", and Forte stared glumly at the incredibly burnt steak in front of him.

"How do you even survive?"

"It's better than nothing. I have enough supplies to last me and you two and a half years." Wily said, sitting down and stabbing the steak with a large knife. "Damn it!"

* * *

Around Rock and Dr. Light, a large clock chimed 6 times as people in the crowd murmured and whispered to each other.

"A boy at ten years old…"

"A heart attack! Impossible! He looked too healthy to have heart problems that severe!"

"I saw him walking strange, so I gave him a free bottle of water…not sure how much that helped."

"Mommy, mommy, is he going to be alright?"

"…Where is that kid's mother? Or father? Or anyone for that matter…he should not be walking around alone in a fair!"

"Dr. Light, do you think we should follow?" Rock asked.

Dr. Light nodded and began to head toward the exit, with Rock following.


	12. Light

**Chapter 12 : Light**

Blues opened his eyes, and there was a light. A faint, barely noticeable white light a noticeable distance away. Blues stared intently at it watching it intently, quietly, filled with awe. It seemed bright and welcoming… He didn't know what it was, but his legs seemed to move for him.

He began to slowly walk towards the light, and the light seemed to get bigger and brighter, as if preparing to either embrace him or swallow him whole. With every step he took toward it, it got blindingly larger, until the light seemed to be swallowing him, and he covered his eyes with one arm, blinded.

Even as he stopped, the light got larger and larger until it revealed it's true identity, and he was face-to-face with a freight train coming straight toward him. Blues wanted to roll out of the way, but his legs seemed to be figuratively frozen solid…

He saw it just as it collided with him. On top of the train was Mega Man, in the way he originally was, in a pose of preparation, staring at the sky. Mega Man vanished in a blue beam of light just as the train was literally on top of Blues, towering over him…

----------------------

"You know, old man, we never did go through with that plan." Forte muttered thoughtfully, chewing on the piece of steak he could actually cut and wincing slightly, holding his jaw after swallowing it.

"What plan?" Wily responded, still trying to cut his own. He glared at it furiously and fruitlessly stabbed it with the knife.

"The one where I was going to sneak into the Light residence as a human and steal their plans?"

"I decided you weren't much for stealth and sent a different person to do the job. They succeeded, and soon enough, I'll figure out a way for you to turn back into a robot." Wily replied matter-of-factly, finally slicing off a small chunk of the steak and eating it.

-----------------

Roll looked through the science cabinets, hoping to find something that would make things better for her. She was supremely jealous, a feeling she had never felt before, and wanted to know what Rock felt like…and never be ridiculed by rude guests like that boy for being what she was again.

…On the other hand, she didn't want to go stealing things or experimenting with them either. She'd wait until Dr. Light got home… After all, he was her father. He, of all people, would understand how she felt. With that decided, she closed the science cabinets and went to find something to do.

…Was there anything she hadn't cleaned yet?

------------------

"So, how is he?" Dr. Light asked, after talking to a doctor immediately upon arrival at the hospital.

"He's fine. He's had a few small spasms and other such things, but those are basically minor considering what could have happened. We almost lost him at times, but he's pulled through… He's going to be in a recovery ward for a week, though."

Rock quickly got bored with the conversation and went to look for something else to do., and saw a nearby television in a nearby room, so he walked over there and watched whatever was on. On the screen was a picture of himself and Dr. Wily, as well as a reporter.

The ticker at the bottom read "Dr. Wily still at large after escaping from jail yet again… Possibility of attack is at highest point"

Rock stared in silence. He knew it was going to happen again eventually… He thought about teleporting out to go look for him, but quickly caught himself and stopped.

He couldn't teleport anymore. Or fight. And with that thought, he suddenly felt helpless again… What if Dr. Wily attacked again? What if Dr. Wily knew he was human? No matter what way he looked at it, if Dr. Wily attacked again, he knew it'd be catastrophic.

And he knew Dr. Wily… Dr. Wily was stubborn… No matter how many times he was defeated, he wouldn't give up. He'd try every scheme and attack until he eventually managed to find the tiniest little crack and break through.

Rock sighed in defeat. He knew the world would need him again at its most desperate hour, and he wouldn't be there.

-----------------

Forte gave up on trying to eat what was in front of him, thinking he might have just broken a tooth doing so, and stood up, walked out of the room, and went back to working on his unfinished robot masters.

He walked into the room and stared at his first finished creation, Scorpion-Man. Everything down to the sturdy black tank-like armor had been completed. As an added touch, there was a purple stripe going around it's deep, unfeeling red eyes, and down its huge, powerful tail, which had a thick spike at the end of it.

Forte's robot masters looked awesome in his eyes. Deadly and menacing, not laughable and weak like his father's failures… Top Man came to mind instantly. What had Wily been _thinking_ when he had created that thing?

Now Skull Man on the other hand… And Elec Man, and Napalm Man. Those three packed power and looked neat to boot. That's what he wanted in his robot masters.

"You know, I made something you might find useful." Dr. Wily said out of nowhere, throwing Forte's train of thought off course.

"…What?" Forte said as calmly as possible, turning around to see Wily holding a small computer chip.

"It's a simulation program that will allow you to test your robots to see how much damage they can cause, any possible weaknesses, and their chances of surviving a battle against Mega Man. As you can see with my previous attempts, it doesn't always work perfectly, but… Even fixing the slightest flaws will help."

Forte snatched the chip out of his hand and looked at it.

"How do I use it?"

"Simply place it inside the robot, and watch a recording of the simulation on the computer screens. After it's done, it will give you all the data you need."

Forte walked up to his robot and followed said instructions, and the robot's eyes glowed a shade of white before changing back to their regular color.

Forte looked at the computer in the same room, and the screen turned black for a second, then faded to a menu, asking what Forte wanted to do.

Forte chose "Mega Man Battle Simulation", and another menu opened up, asking him what area he wished to simulate a fight in. He chose a map of the city, and a disturbingly realistic one popped up on the screen.

Suddenly, the simulated camera panned down to Scorpion Man, and a battle appeared on the screen as it and Mega Man faced each other in the city. Forte had already programmed it's entire battle characteristics, and hopefully, if Wily was right, this would allow to him to find any flaws in the design and the A.I.

The simulated Mega Man yelled out and began flashing blue, releasing a large plasma blast from his arm cannon that Scorpion Man quickly dodged by launching itself off the ground…

------------------

Roll was fast asleep (in a matter of speaking) when Dr. Light and Rock came home that night. All the support robots except for Auto were doing the same, Tango being smart enough to keep a safe distance from Rush, and Beat being smart enough to keep a safe distance from Tango.

Outside, a storm brewed. Lightning broke the silence and split the sky, and rain came pouring down, flowing down the slopes and soaking the grass. Rock ran in with his hands above his head to keep himself from being soaked, and Dr. Light came in carrying a black umbrella.

As long as he was here, Rock didn't feel any worries about Dr. Wily attacking, and he felt warm and safe, all his worries seeming to bury themselves into his subconscious. Right now, he just wanted to sleep.

--------------------------

"Dr. Light?" a voice whispered. "Dr. Light?"

Dr. Light slowly woke up, looking around for the source of the voice, and saw Roll staring back at him.

"Roll?" he muttered.

"Dr. Light, I wanted to ask you… Can I be a person too?"


	13. Success

**Chapter 13 : Success**

Dr. Light didn't know what to say. Roll wanted to be human too… He had not seen this coming, and was left in a state of a shock for a moment, but he recollected himself and began to talk.

"Roll, why?"

"Because it's lonely without Mega Man around."

"Lonely? But Rock is here…"

"Rock's never going to be around, I know it. Now that's he a human and everything, he's going to be busy like you. And you'll be going places, and doing stuff that I can't do with him. He's my brother, Dr. Light…I already miss when we'd just spend time together in-between Dr. Wily's attacks."

Dr. Light still didn't know how to respond.

"But the world needs you, Roll."

"It does?"

"Yes, Roll. Think about this… What if Dr. Wily attacks again? With Rock a human, we need a battle robot to fight him and protect the world."

"But… I can't… You want me to become a battle robot?"

"Exactly. When Dr. Wily attacks again, if you want to be a battle robot, you can. And until then, you can help me in the labs. But if you really want to be a human, you can become one anytime you want."

"Alright… Thanks, Dr. Light."

Roll smiled and grabbed Dr. Light around the waist, then went back to her own room to sleep.

------------------------

Scorpion Man was having relatively no trouble tearing apart Mega Man. Mega Man was running at 25 efficiency, and Scorpion Man was at an above average 65.

Mega Man slid under as Scorpion Man took a step back, and charged forward, leaping off the ground on it's eight robotic legs and falling straight down in an attempt to crush Mega Man, who quickly slid under while charging his Mega Buster. He then flipped around as he got back up and jumped and fired at the tail portion, dealing severe damage!

"Damn it…" Forte cursed as he stared at the simulation, purple, white, black and blue light covering his face and illuminating the dark room.

"Why'd you make Scorpion Man so robotic? Wouldn't it be better if he was smaller and more human?"

Forte imagined a black and purple robot that stood on two legs, with four extra arms, a huge spiked tail, and hands that fired barrages of poisonous bullets.

"No, not really. Mega Man will be crushed if this thing so much as runs into him."

"Alright, if you say so…"

Forte and Wily continued to watch the battle, but were both silent during it. Mega Man was falling apart, almost destroyed, and Scorpion Man's armor was beginning to crack. Mega Man fired three plasma charges at the noticeable weaker points in Scorpion Man's armor, and Scorpion Man whipped out his tail to stop the attack.

All three hit the tail and bounced off the armor, and the tail impaled Mega Man, who exploded, releasing an explosion of yellow energy in the every direction with a powerful, deafening "dew dew dew" sound.

Forte grinned.

----------------

One week later…

Blues walked outside of the hospital, still slightly dizzy. Upon waking up, one of the doctors had talked to him about how to prevent future heart attacks, but he had barely listened.

In fact, he was supposed to be being picked up by Dr. Light, and had been told to wait in the waiting room until he arrived.

Blues had opted to disobey that command and instead had walked out of the hospital completely. Luckily, none of the doctors or nurses had noticed him do so (or at least hadn't done anything about it).

He walked through the parking lot, with no particular destination in mind.

-----------------------

In Dr. Light's lab, Roll held a yellow orb in her hands, being careful not to accidentally integrate it into her systems. She had been modified over the past week from being just a housekeeping robot to a housekeeper and a lab assistant.

She looked at the large robot sitting on the counter. Dr. Light had apparently found it sitting around in a junk pile. The robot, a lot like Auto, seemed to be made from a lot of miscellaneous spare parts. The robot was a rusted gray, with only one arm and one working eye (the other one was an enormous blank pupil, but was there). One leg was larger than the other as well. It came off simply looking quite creepy.

After carefully looking for a panel, she put the orb inside it, and nothing happened at first. Then, the robot began to stutter momentarily. She slowly walked backwards, and the robot's rusted gray armor seemed to sink and fall, the helmet eventually laying lopsided on top of the robot's head.

She stared at this phenomenon, then brought herself to walk closer to it, slightly nervous. The robot, if it still was one, wasn't moving, so she grabbed its helmet and managed to get it off.

The entire robot toppled, falling against her and knocking her to the ground, landing on top of her. The helmet was off, and rolled across the lab floor into a wall. She pushed the robot off her and stared at it.

The robot was completely bald, it's one moving eye staring straight at her. The lopsided chest armor moved up and down slowly, and it seemed to be struggling to move.

She pressed her hand against its head, and a quick reading told her the temperature was hot, by human standards anyways.

"Hi, I'm Roll.." she said, still slightly awestruck.

"Ciao, sono un robot del prototipo, l'indicazione 54MU3l. Tutte le letture sono giù. Sconosciuto di posizione. La grande percentuale della memoria e dei dati sembra essere pulita."

Roll's translator activated. The robot was speaking, of all things, in Italian, but appeared to have understood her.

"Hello, I am a prototype robot, designation 54MU3l. All readings are down. Location unknown. Large percentage of memory and data appears to have been wiped."

"Alright, 54M. May I call you Sam?" Roll asked.

"Eso está bien.." Sam responded.

"That is alright," came the translation, this time translating it from Spanish.

"Why are you speaking like that?" asked Roll, who had been wondering that.

"Ich kenne alle Formen der Sprache, aber vocal Fähigkeit war glitched und reparierte nie." Sam responded.

"I know all forms of language, but vocal ability was glitched and never repaired," came the translation, this time translating German.

"Do you mind if I help you up? You're going to need a lot of help to get back to normal." Roll asked.

"Eso sería muy bueno. Gracias," the robot responded, staring blankly at the ceiling with its one eye.

"That would be very kind. Thank you," the translator translated, from Spanish again.

Roll walked over to the robot and tried to lift it, and barely managed to, even being a robot. When she did though, the left arm portion of the armor collapsed and fell off, revealing a stump where an arm would be. Roll didn't notice, and scanned for Dr. Light's current position. He had asked her to do the yellow orb experiment while he was away for a moment.

She quickly discovered that Dr. Light was nowhere in the vicinity of the house, so she sighed and began to drag the robot into her room. As she dragged it through the hallways, Tango ran in-between her legs, and Rush crashed into her, knocking both Sam and her onto the ground.

She sighed and picked Sam up again, grabbing his only arm and placing it around her shoulder.

"Questo posto è stupefacente.." Sam remarked, the translation coming as "This place is amazing."

"Thanks," she said, smiling as she finally reached her room and dragged Sam in there. She lifted it onto the charger/bed, and it looked around with its one eye again.

"Perchè qui?" it asked, the translation coming as "Why here?"

"It's a lot more comfortable than the lab," she said, smiling.


End file.
